In-Person Agenda
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC
Please note that the schedule is subject to change.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM (Eastern Time)
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC
Please note that the schedule is subject to change.
8:00 - 8:50 AM ET
Coffee and a light breakfast buffet will be available.
9:00 - 9:50 AM ET
Keynote Address with Rep. Young Kim (CA-40)
We’ll kick off the day with opening remarks by SID-United States leadership and then a keynote address by Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is Chair of the Subcommittees on the Indo-Pacific and also serves on the Subcommittee on Africa.
Keynote:
Keynote:
- Young Kim | U.S. Representative, California's 40th District and Member, House Foreign Affairs Committee
Young Kim U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN (R-CA) |
About CONGRESSWOMAN young kim
Congresswoman Young Kim is proud to represent California’s 40th District, which includes parts of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, in the U.S. House of Representatives. An immigrant, small business owner, community leader, mother and grandmother, Young is proud to be one of the first Korean American women ever to serve in Congress and help all Americans have the chance to achieve their dream just like she did. As an immigrant to the United States, Young has dedicated her life to giving back to her community. She started her public service as Director of Community Relations and Asian Affairs for former Congressman Ed Royce, where she was a key liaison to the district and advisor on issues pertaining to the Asian-American community and foreign policy. Prior to serving in Congress, Young was the first ever Korean American Republican woman to serve in the California State Assembly. As an Assemblywoman, Young fought to grow jobs, support small businesses, ensure public safety, promote educational opportunities, support veterans and protect victims of domestic violence. Young is a small business owner, a long-time community leader and has been actively involved in numerous organizations throughout the 40th District and in Orange County. She and her husband Charles reside in Anaheim Hills and are the proud parents of four grown children – Christine, Kelly, Alvin and Hannah. |
Katherine Raphaelson President, SID-US About Katherine Raphaelson
Katherine Raphaelson joined SID-US as its president in April 2013. She previously was a director of the Gorongosa Restoration Project, a conservation and human development effort in Mozambique, which she helped manage for nearly ten years. In addition, she spent six years in association management: she founded and managed a membership association in Boston, the Massachusetts Telecommunications Council, which she built to 300 organizational members. She was later asked to return to the association to rebuild it after it had lapsed. Katherine also worked with numerous start-up companies, including International Wireless/International Online, which acquired Africa Online and ultimately became Prodigy International. She served as that organization’s vice president of international marketing. She also worked for seven years at Boston Technology, a high tech start-up which she joined as the 4th employee and helped build to 500+ people. Katherine holds a B.A. in English from Wellesley College. |
Jay Knott SID-US 2023 Conference Chair and Senior Executive Vice President & COO, Environmental Defense Fund about jay knott
Jay L. Knott is the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). He leads all of EDF’s global operational infrastructure functions, including Finance & Audit; Human Resources & Diversity; IT & Data Science; Legal & Compliance; and Corporate Services & Facilities. He previously served as Chief Business Officer at Abt Associates, overseeing all of the company’s business operations, including its wholly owned subsidiaries, Abt Associates-Australia and Abt Britain. He was a member of the Leadership Committee. Mr. Knott also serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for International Development, United States Chapter (SID-US). Before joining Abt Associates, Knott was the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director in Jordan, leading one of the largest U.S. economic assistance programs in the world. During early 2010, Knott served as Acting Assistant Administrator for Legislative and Public Affairs. Jay Knott also served as USAID Mission Director in Mozambique, one of the largest US assistance programs in Africa. He joined USAID in 1988 and worked in a number of leadership roles in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Prior to joining USAID, Knott worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice focusing on the enforcement of U.S. environmental laws. He was also an attorney at the private firm Fox, Weinberg, and Bennett, where he worked on issues related to the environment and food and drug law. Knott received his B.A. from Yale University in Political Economy and African Studies, and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. |
Wade Warren Chair, SID-US Board and Chief Strategy Officer for International Development, Deloitte About wade warren
Wade Warren is the Chief Strategy Officer for International Development at Deloitte Consulting LLP. In this role, he leads strategic insight, thought leadership, and innovation across the international development spectrum for U.S. foreign assistance and international development clients. A globally-recognized leader in international development, he previously served as the Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. With 12,000 people and more than $25 billion in annual funding, USAID is the world’s largest bilateral aid agency. During 27 years with USAID, Warren served in a broad range of senior management positions in the Bureaus for Policy, Planning and Learning, Global Health, and Africa. Additionally, he was the Acting Chief Operating Officer of the State Department’s Office of the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance. Warren also served at USAID’s Missions in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Warren received his undergraduate degree in history from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1981 and his graduate degree in international business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 1990. Throughout the 1980s, he worked as an analyst and speechwriter in the U.S. House of Representatives and from 1991 to 1994, was Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Telecommunications Training Institute, a non-profit organization that provides training to communications professionals from the developing world. |
French, Spanish, and ASL interpretation, as well as English closed captioning, will be available virtually for our main stage plenary sessions throughout the day. Thank you to our Accessibility Sponsor, Making Cents International.
10:00 - 10:50 AM ET
Exhibit Hall Opens & Networking Break
The Exhibit Hall will feature more than 80 organizations in the international development field and showcase their innovative projects and dynamic contributions. Check out who will be there. The Exhibit Hall will be open from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM ET. Don't forget to visit the virtual booths, too!
Take this hour to also network with other attendees. Reconnect with old friends and colleagues and meet new ones. You can attend our Meet the Workgroup Co-Chairs networking session on the 2nd floor balcony above the Exhibit hall to learn more about how to get involved with the Workgroups!
You can also enjoy coffee and snacks in our Lounge sponsored by Church World Service, Food for the Hungry and IBTCI.
Five concurrent virtual sessions will be taking place on the TechChange platform. You can see these in real time in our Virtual Viewing Rooms in the Continental and Hemisphere Rooms. See the virtual Agenda here.
Take this hour to also network with other attendees. Reconnect with old friends and colleagues and meet new ones. You can attend our Meet the Workgroup Co-Chairs networking session on the 2nd floor balcony above the Exhibit hall to learn more about how to get involved with the Workgroups!
You can also enjoy coffee and snacks in our Lounge sponsored by Church World Service, Food for the Hungry and IBTCI.
Five concurrent virtual sessions will be taking place on the TechChange platform. You can see these in real time in our Virtual Viewing Rooms in the Continental and Hemisphere Rooms. See the virtual Agenda here.
11:00 - 11:50 AM ET
Inclusive Global Health: "Nothing About Us Without Us" (Nihil de nobis, sine nobis)
When we work to improve global health by making it more inclusive, we should make sure that we focus on the needs and rights of people who are often overlooked or treated unfairly. This includes groups of people who may be marginalized or underrepresented in society, such as those living in poverty, those with disabilities, those from certain ethnic or racial backgrounds, and others. During this session, global health practitioners and donors offer insight into the harms of power imbalances in the global health context, current limitations of shifting power, and actionable guidance for driving toward power shifts in academia and practice.
Katherine Guernsey Agency Disability Rights Coordinator, USAID About katherine guernsey
As USAID’s Disability Rights Coordinator, Katherine is responsible for advising the Agency on disability inclusion at both the program and policy levels, and manages the Agency’s Disability Program Fund. In this capacity, she is working to promote U.S. development assistance that recognizes and respects persons with disabilities and their representative organizations as not only development beneficiaries on an equal basis with others, but as partners in the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects that impact the lives of the world’s one billion persons with disabilities. Katherine is a public international lawyer who has dedicated her career to the field of human rights, with an emphasis on disability inclusive development and diplomacy. Much of her work has focused on enhancing the capacity of stakeholders to effectively formulate and implement disability inclusive policies and practices. She was extensively involved in negotiation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), working alongside both governmental and non-governmental delegations. She has authored numerous publications associated with the treaty and international disability law and policy. From 2010-2017, she served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Special Advisor for International Disability Rights, Judith Heumann, at the U.S. Department of State, promoting disability inclusive diplomacy as a priority in U.S. foreign policy. Katherine received her Master of Laws in international and comparative law from The George Washington University Law School, and her Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degrees from Ohio Northern University. 
Bobby Jefferson Executive Committee Member & Chair of DEI Committee, SID-US and Global Head, Diversity, Equity, Engagement, & Inclusion, DAI Moderator about Bobby jefferson
Bobby Jefferson is DAI’s global head of diversity, equity, engagement, and inclusion. He was previously vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) DAI Global Health, helping establish the company’s successful digital and global health teams and Ukraine Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure (CCI) activity. In 2020, Jefferson joined the Board of Directors of the Society for International Development-US Chapter (SID-US), a position to which he was re-elected in 2021. As a member of SID-US’s executive committee, he has been instrumental in shaping the organization’s strategic thinking on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), chairing the DEI committee; establishing the race, ethnicity, and diversity workgroup; and setting in motion the DEI strategic plan. Jefferson is a founding core team member of the Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Equity in Development (CREED) and a co-chair of the Council of International Development Companies (CIDC) committee on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Mr. Jefferson is also on the Board of Trustees for Population Reference Bureau (PRB), Finance and Investments Committee, Board Member, THINKMD, and Compensation Committee. He serves as Board Adviser for startup enterprises CickMedix, DataElevates, SimPrints, and the Mentor Capital Network. Jefferson earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science at American University. |
Jesse Patterson Senior Policy and Health Equity Advisor, Global Health Bureau, USAID about jesse patterson
Jesse joined the Global Health Bureau’s Front Office as the Senior Policy and Health Equity Advisor and is chiefly responsible for serving as GH's lead technical expert on inclusive development, localization, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. He has spearheaded the first-ever GH DEIA Implementation Plan, led the development of GH’s DEIA workstreams that guide our in areas such as Accountability, Recruitment, and Career Development, facilitates the monthly GH DEIA Speaker Series, and led GH’s first-ever DEIA Retreat earlier this year. Prior to this assignment, Jesse joined the Office of HIV/AIDS in 2020 where he served as the Senior HIV/AIDS Clinical Advisor for Key and Priority Populations and was the subject matter expert for country programs in Uganda and Central America. Prior to joining OHA, Jesse served as the Sr. Brazil and Peru Desk Officer and Acting Deputy for the Office of South American Affairs. While in LAC he also served as the office COVID-19 point of contact, the AOR for COVID-19 activities in Bolivia, and co-led the development of LAC's Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity for All Council and served as the Council's first Chair. Immediately prior to LAC, Jesse worked in the Africa Bureau on the Sudan and South Sudan Desk team. During his time in the Africa Bureau, Jesse also served on USAID's Ebola Technical Working Group as the South Sudan point of contact. Jesse joined the Africa Bureau in 2015 as part of the inaugural Presidential Management Fellows (PMF)-Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics cohort as a Public Health PMF. |
Tambra Stevenson Founder and CEO, WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics & Agriculture about tambra stevenson
Tambra has devoted her career to championing an inclusive food system and preserving the nutrition and food of the African diaspora. Featured in Forbes and the Washington Post, she founded WANDA, Women Advancing Nutrition, Dietetics, and Agriculture, a pipeline and platform for women and girls as "food sheroes" in Africa and the diaspora to lead in building better food systems for healthier communities. As a champion for foods of the African diaspora for health and identity, Tambra is also the founder of NATIVSOL Kitchen, which provides Pan-African nutrition education. She is passionate about expanding access to healthy food and nutrition services and serves on several committees and boards working toward comprehensive nutrition policy reform. The Agriculture Secretary appointed her to serve on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board. Washington, D.C.'s mayor appointed her to the D.C. Food Policy Council, co-chairing the nutrition and health working group. She also serves on the National Food Museum's Advisory Board. She co-chairs the Nutrition Security Working Group for the Tufts Food and Nutrition Innovation Council and serves on the Food as Medicine Advisory Board for the Milken Institute. In Ethiopia, she was appointed as the first-ever regional representative to North America for the African Nutrition Society to advance African nutrition in the diaspora. As the founder of NativSol Kitchen and 2014 National Geographic Traveler of the Year, she has traveled across Africa learning about her African food roots as medicine, starting with her Fulani roots in northern Nigeria. This year she served as Eating Well’s Guest Editor for her first breakout feature on the African heritage diet as medicine. She serves on the board for the Les Dames d'Escoffier Washington, D.C. regional chapter. She has given many talks on African nutrition, food as medicine, Black women in the food system, and food equity in the U.S., Europe and Africa, including TEDx, World Food Prize, Food Tank Summit, U.S. Library of Congress and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Smithsonian, African Union, Uppsala University in Sweden, Cape Coast Medical School in Ghana, Hawassa University in Ethiopia, and Kano Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. Tambra's leadership in advocating for nutrition and health equity resulted in her being named the 2021 Science Defender by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2021 Changemaker by Clean Eating Magazine, 2022 Black Women in Food by Dine Diaspora, 2020 Changemaker in the Food System by Washington City Paper, Nutrition Hero by Food and Nutrition Magazine, Community Hero Award by NBC4, Women's Environmental Leadership Fellow by Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, and the 2017 NAACP Dr. William Montague Cobb Award recipient for food justice and health advocacy. She is balancing parenting, PhDing at American University and pushing WANDA forward. |
Solutions for a More Resilient Global Food System
Despite making significant worldwide progress from 2005 – 2014 (4.5% reduction in undernourishment), the number of people going hungry and suffering gravely from food insecurity has risen by 150 million people in the past three years. COVID, climate change, and devastating conflict in Ukraine and elsewhere have all contributed to significant increasing rates of hunger, putting the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 in jeopardy. Approximately 768 million people were undernourished in 2021, and a staggering 2.4 billion people, or above 30 percent of the world’s population, lacked regular access to adequate food according to the UN.
The global food security crisis has brought to light the pressing need for a more resilient global food system that can meet the demand for affordable, safe and nutritious diets for all. In addition, sustainable agriculture/agroecology is critical for a resilient climate smart agriculture. What solutions can governments, development partners, and agrifood systems actors apply so that the world can reliably and sustainably feed itself in the face of rising fuel and fertilizer prices, changing climate, growing conflict, and increasingly frequent severe weather events? How can social safety nets be strengthened to avoid severe food shortages? What role can local actors and local food systems play in shifting the power from a broken world food system to safe nutritious food for all?
The global food security crisis has brought to light the pressing need for a more resilient global food system that can meet the demand for affordable, safe and nutritious diets for all. In addition, sustainable agriculture/agroecology is critical for a resilient climate smart agriculture. What solutions can governments, development partners, and agrifood systems actors apply so that the world can reliably and sustainably feed itself in the face of rising fuel and fertilizer prices, changing climate, growing conflict, and increasingly frequent severe weather events? How can social safety nets be strengthened to avoid severe food shortages? What role can local actors and local food systems play in shifting the power from a broken world food system to safe nutritious food for all?
Dina Esposito Global Food Crisis Coordinator, USAID About Dina Esposito
Dina Esposito now serves as the Assistant to the Administrator for the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) at USAID, Feed the Future Deputy Coordinator for Development, and the Agency’s Global Food Crisis Coordinator. Most recently, Dina served five years at Mercy Corps (MC), a global organization focused on helping build more resilient, inclusive communities in some of the most fragile contexts in the world through development, humanitarian response and peacebuilding programs. She served there as Vice President for Technical Leadership, guiding a team of subject matter experts who provide strategy, program design and technical support for Mercy Corps’ global vision and for country teams in more than 40 countries. Economic development (with a focus on agriculture and youth employment), food security, water security, and conflict and governance were her areas of focus. She also directed the MC Research and Learning team, which prioritized research on “what works” in terms of building resilience and advancing peace in areas impacted by climate change and conflict, particularly within the framework of food security programs. Before joining Mercy Corps, she was the Director of USAID’s Office of Food for Peace, (now part of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance), where she oversaw for 6 years the Agency’s then $2.8 billion relief and development food assistance portfolio. There she provided strategic direction for the delivery of life-saving food assistance globally, including in Syria, Yemen, Somalia and the Sahel and guided the office through a period of dramatic change. This included ushering in the scaling of cash-based food assistance, and the reformulation of 21 new or improved food aid products to better meet the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations - including the incorporation of Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods into the USAID food aid basket for the first time. She guided the creation of a ten-year strategy that committed Food for Peace to focus not only on saving lives and livelihoods but also on transforming systems and communities to reach sustained improvements in food and nutrition security. She also served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian response overseeing Sudan, South Sudan, the 2015 El Nino agency-wide drought response, and the food assistance portfolio. In that capacity she served as co-Chair of the Agency Resilience Leadership Council. Prior to this, Ms. Esposito worked for a nongovernmental organization, living and working in Ethiopia and Kenya, where she focused on governance, conflict and peacebuilding programs. Throughout her career she has focused on the challenges of delivering relief and development assistance in fragile and conflict-affected states and worked to advance collective action and multi-disciplinary solutions to complex challenges. She began her career as a Presidential Management Fellow and Refugee Officer at the U.S. State Department (Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration); and as an officer in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Office of Transition Initiatives. Dina holds a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, School for Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor’s degree from Williams College. She is married and has three children. |
Emmy Simmons Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Global Food Security Program, CSIS About emmy simmons
Emmy Simmons is an independent consultant on international development issues with a focus on food, agriculture, and Africa. She is currently a member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, the Board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the steering committee for the CGIAR research program Agriculture for Nutrition (A4NH), and the Board of SNV USA. She has previously served on other Boards and advisory groups, including as a co-chair of AGree, an initiative that brings together a diverse group of interests to transform U.S. food and agriculture policy, and as a co-chair of the Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability at the National Academies of Science. She completed a career of nearly 30 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2005, having served since 2002 as the assistant administrator for economic growth, agriculture, and trade, a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position. Prior to joining USAID, she worked in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs in Monrovia, Liberia, and taught and conducted research at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. She began her international career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1962 to 1964. She holds an M.S. degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University and a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. |
David Spielman Director, Innovation Policy and Scaling (IPS), IFPRI about david spielman
David J. Spielman is the director of IFPRI’s Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit and has been with the institute since 2004. His research agenda covers a range of topics including agriculture and rural development policy; agricultural science, technology, and innovation; plant genetic resources and seed systems; agricultural extension and advisory services; and community-driven rural development. David was most recently based in Kigali, Rwanda, where he led the Rwanda Strategy Support Program. From 2016 to 2020, David managed IFPRI’s research theme on science, technology, and innovation policy from its headquarters in Washington, DC, and contributed to research projects in Asia and Africa. From 2004 to 2010, he was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was part of IFPRI’s work on strengthening agricultural innovation systems. Earlier in his career, David worked on agriculture and rural development issues for the World Bank (Washington, DC), the Aga Khan Development Network (Pakistan), and several other organizations. David received a PhD in Economics from American University in 2003, an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics in 1993, and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University in 1992. |
Gloria Steele COO, CARE Moderator |
about gloria steele
Gloria D. Steele has served as Chief Operating Officer of CARE since May 2021. She previously served as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from January 20, 2021 until May 2, 2021. A career member of the U.S. Government’s Senior Executive Service, Ms. Steele also served as Deputy Assistant Administrator at USAID, where she led the Bureau for Asia for nearly four years starting in January 2017. She oversaw a program budget of $1.6 billion in 30 countries and a staff of 1,300 in fiscal year 2020. Prior to this assignment, she served as USAID’s Mission Director for the Philippines, the Pacific Islands, and Mongolia, with a program budget of over $500 million from 2010-2015. Prior to being posted in Manila, Ms. Steele served as USAID’s Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Global Health, which had an average annual budget of $1.5 billion and a staff of 240. She assumed this position in January 2005. From 2001-2004, she served as Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, which had an annual budget of $2.0 billion in 26 countries. She also worked for seven years at USAID’s Bureau for Africa as an agricultural economist, and seven years in the Bureau for Science and Technology, overseeing applied research on key rural development issues such as land tenure, access to agricultural credit, food security, and natural resource management. Ms. Steele served as a Policy Director for one year in the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, where she led the development of USAID’s first food security policy. Earlier in her career, Ms. Steele served as a Management Consultant to the Philippines’ Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, and taught Business Economics at Letran Graduate School for Business in Manila. Ms. Steele received a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Maryknoll College in the Philippines. Her awards include a Presidential Meritorious Executive Award in 2007, Presidential Distinguished Executive Awards in 2008 and 2018, and the Order of Sikatuna award from the President of the Philippines in 2015. Gloria currently serves on the SID-US Board. |
12:15 - 1:45 PM ET
Lunch Plenary
Over lunch, we'll have a panel discussion on the threats and opportunities presented to international development and local communities by geopolitics, climate change and artificial intelligence will be a thought-provoking event. The panel will bring together top experts on geopolitics, climate change and artificial intelligence to explore how these dynamic factors are impacting (and will impact) global development, international relationships of every sort, as well as the lives of communities and families around the world. The panelists will discuss how geopolitical tensions and power shifts are impacting international cooperation, how climate change and climate change finance are affecting vulnerable communities and global finance, and how artificial intelligence is changing the face of work and society.
Addie Cooke Global AI Public Policy Lead, Google about addie cooke
Addie Cooke is the global AI public policy lead for enterprise AI at Google. In this role she supports Google Cloud's engagements on current and emerging AI policy files around the world. She advises teams across the organization including leadership, engineering, PR, compliance, sales, and legal on forthcoming AI regulatory and standards. Beyond her work on policy files, she works with product teams developing AI that deliver benefits to people through product launches, technology partnerships, and customer engagements. She previously worked at Accenture and Workday in similar roles and supported the legislative effort to establish the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. Before working in AI policy, Addie held policy, press, and research positions in the Texas Legislature and the United States Senate. Following the Senate, she helped lead a campaign to support the Obama Administration's reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. Addie previously served in AmeriCorps Vista working with youth in East Los Angeles public housing, and is a Returned Peace Corps where she served a full term working with youth in El Salvador. Addie holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and MPP from the University of Virginia. Outside of work, she serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children. |
Mafalda Duarte CEO, the Climate Investment Funds about mafaldA duarte
Mafalda Duarte is CEO of the more than $11 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF), one of the world’s largest multilateral funds for climate action in developing countries. Since her appointment in 2014, Mafalda has overseen hundreds of investments at the cutting edge of clean energy and resilience across more than 70 low and middle-income countries, including the largest solar park in the world and South America's first geothermal plant. Under Mafalda’s leadership, CIF's mandate has expanded to include areas like coal phase-out and just transition. Prior to CIF, Mafalda held senior positions at the African Development Bank and the World Bank. She has been quoted in Reuters, BBC World Service, the Economist, and the Financial Times. Mafalda was appointed the next Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, effective summer 2023. |
Anne-Marie Slaughter CEO, New America about anne-marie slaughter
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the CEO of New America, a think and action tank dedicated to renewing the promise and national ideals of the United States through structural political reform, an overhaul of the American education system, a focus on family security and wellbeing, technology that serves democracy, and a new global politics focused on people and planet. She is also the Bert G. Kerstetter ‘66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, where she was the dean of the School of Public and International Affairs from 2002–09. Slaughter received her BA from Princeton, an M.Phil and D.Phil in international relations from Oxford University, and a JD from Harvard Law School, where from 1994 to 2002 she served as the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law. From 2009–11, Slaughter served as director of policy planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. In recognition of her work leading the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, she received the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award, and meritorious service awards from USAID and the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. Foreign Policy named Slaughter a Top 100 Global Thinker in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Slaughter has authored or edited nine books, including The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in a Networked World (Yale, 2017), Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family (Random House, 2015), The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World (Basic Books, 2007), and A New World Order (Princeton, 2004), as well as over 100 scholarly articles. She was the convener and academic co-chair, with John Ikenberry, of the Princeton Project on National Security, a multi-year research project aimed at developing a new, bipartisan national security strategy. Her 2012 article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” in The Atlantic became the magazine’s most-read piece and reopened a debate on ongoing obstacles to gender equality. Slaughter is a contributing editor to the Financial Times and writes a bi-monthly column for Project Syndicate. |
|
Jay Knott SID-US 2023 Conference Chair and Senior Executive Vice President & COO, Environmental Defense Fund Moderator |
about jay knott
Jay L. Knott is the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). He leads all of EDF’s global operational infrastructure functions, including Finance & Audit; Human Resources & Diversity; IT & Data Science; Legal & Compliance; and Corporate Services & Facilities. He previously served as Chief Business Officer at Abt Associates, overseeing all of the company’s business operations, including its wholly owned subsidiaries, Abt Associates-Australia and Abt Britain. He was a member of the Leadership Committee. Mr. Knott also serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for International Development, United States Chapter (SID-US). Before joining Abt Associates, Knott was the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director in Jordan, leading one of the largest U.S. economic assistance programs in the world. During early 2010, Knott served as Acting Assistant Administrator for Legislative and Public Affairs. Jay Knott also served as USAID Mission Director in Mozambique, one of the largest US assistance programs in Africa. He joined USAID in 1988 and worked in a number of leadership roles in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Prior to joining USAID, Knott worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice focusing on the enforcement of U.S. environmental laws. He was also an attorney at the private firm Fox, Weinberg, and Bennett, where he worked on issues related to the environment and food and drug law. Knott received his B.A. from Yale University in Political Economy and African Studies, and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. |
2:00 - 2:50 PM ET
Refugees and Migrants: Power Shift Dynamics and Displacement
The number of displaced persons, including refugees and migrants, increases on a daily basis. The drivers of displaced persons are numerous and include violence, war, economics, hunger, climate change, natural disasters, lack of resources, persecution, and diseases. According to UNHCR, an annual average of 21.5 million people have been forcibly displaced by weather-related events since 2008. The Institute for Economics and Peace has predicted that this number could reach 1.2 billion by 2050.
To address this enormous problem, there needs to be a shift in focus toward putting the voices of displaced people themselves at the center of responses that address not only short term humanitarian needs, but long term integration and economic livelihoods. In addition, we need to look at the power shift dynamics that can often cause displacement. Solutions need to address immediate needs such as food, water, sanitary conditions, and personal safety, as well as physical and mental health, customized assistance for youth, women, and the elderly, and training for jobs.
Technological advances can help, such as the application of digital technologies to identify and monitor individuals to keep up with their movements through their journey. Advances in supply chain management can ensure that goods are available. What else needs to happen to address this growing crisis and how can assistance organizations, international donors, NGOs and others help?
To address this enormous problem, there needs to be a shift in focus toward putting the voices of displaced people themselves at the center of responses that address not only short term humanitarian needs, but long term integration and economic livelihoods. In addition, we need to look at the power shift dynamics that can often cause displacement. Solutions need to address immediate needs such as food, water, sanitary conditions, and personal safety, as well as physical and mental health, customized assistance for youth, women, and the elderly, and training for jobs.
Technological advances can help, such as the application of digital technologies to identify and monitor individuals to keep up with their movements through their journey. Advances in supply chain management can ensure that goods are available. What else needs to happen to address this growing crisis and how can assistance organizations, international donors, NGOs and others help?
Sharif Aly CEO, Islamic Relief USA about sharif aly
Sharif Aly is the CEO of Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA), an international humanitarian relief and development organization that operates in 40 countries across the world, including the United States and has served in such capacity since August of 2017. As CEO, Aly oversees a program portfolio of over $250 million in active programs dedicated to providing relief and sustainable development solutions to uplift people out of poverty. Aly has also led IRUSA in expanding its national partner network with over 200 community based organizations across the country. An attorney by background, he worked in litigation prior to fully dedicating his career to the nonprofit sector. He is certified in Fundraising Management through the Lily School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and holds multiple certifications in leadership and management. Aly currently serves on the American Red Cross National Diversity Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of Refugee Council USA, and InterAction. 
Anne Simmons-Benton SID-US Deputy Chair and Principal, Deep Water Point Moderator about Anne Simmons-benton
Anne Simmons-Benton is an experienced leader and practitioner in international development with over 25 years experience in the government, private sector, and academia designing, managing and implementing programs around the world. Her professional experience includes: complex remote team management, strategy design and implementation, change management, and business development coupled with strong technical skills in trade, business enabling environment, entrepreneurship, finance, gender and law. Anne is a thought leader and early innovator – pioneering business in the early post-Soviet days in Russia, integrating and measuring women’s impact in economic programs to create the business case for inclusion, conducting simulations in international fora for the CAFTA negotiations and the World Trade Organization, linking economics to peace in the post-conflict Balkans and creating the first solar powered electric-vehicle charging station in the Middle East. Anne serves as a US Delegate to the W20, an Engagement Group of the G20 (Saudi Arabia) where she provides expertise across working groups (entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, labor and digital inclusion) to ensure that women’s issues are included in the G20 agenda. The W20 is a transnational network that brings together women leaders of civil society, businesses, entrepreneurship ventures and think tanks. Anne is a Board Member and Officer of the Society for International Development – Washington DC Chapter since 2015, and recently chaired the 2019 Annual Conference focusing on the ‘’Wicked Problems of International Development.” Anne also served as a proxy Board Member on the US Global Leadership Coalition for three years as well as the President of the American Embassy Community Association in Moscow. Previously, as Executive Director for Arizona State University, she launched and led the Washington Office of ASU International Development. She worked closely with USAID, the State Department and implementing partners to find the right role for ASU in international opportunities in a wide range of activities: gender, education, crime prevention, countering violent extremism, health, economic growth, trade, finance, governance, rule of law, climate change, water, food, conservation and energy. Anne created a new model for university engagement in international development. Prior to joining ASU, she was the Project Director/Chief of Party of the $46 million USAID/Jordan Competitiveness Program and served as a Global Practice Leader at DAI, where she started two new practice areas in the Solutions Group – one focused on trade and regulatory reform and one on gender. Anne managed and led the Trade portfolio for Booz Allen Hamilton’s Foreign Affairs Business. There, she was Key Personnel and conducted assessments of countries’ business environments through the BizCLIR project and created the first diagnostic tool to assess the business enabling environment for women, known as GENDERCLIR. Anne worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) both serving in Russia as the first Business Development Advisor and Head of the Banking Division, and in Washington, D.C. as Senior Trade Advisor. For the Department of Commerce, she served as Senior Counsel in the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) where she specialized in trade and economic development. She served at a delegate for the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva as the Donor representative to the Integrated Framework for three years and was successful in bringing in the private sector for the first time to accelerate linkages between business and development. Anne has been a licensed attorney for over 30 years and worked in law firms for the first part of her career. She holds a J.D. from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., a Change Management Advance Practitioner Certificate from Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She is married to Jonathan S. Benton, a Foreign Service Officer, and they have three adult children and three grandchildren. |
Nazanin Ash CEO, Welcome.us about nazanin ash
Nazanin Ash brings decades of experience in the areas of refugees, integration, coalition building, and policy to her role as Welcome.US’s Chief Executive Officer. She was most recently the vice president of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, which serves people in crisis in over 40 countries and resettles refugees in 25 U.S. cities. Previously, Ash served as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, leading the Middle East Partnership Initiative and working to advance political and economic reform in the Middle East. From June 2007 to April 2012, she served on the secretary of state’s policy planning staff, designing initiatives to strengthen U.S. government aid effectiveness and approaches to political and economic development. Nazanin also served as principal advisor and chief of staff to the first director of U.S. foreign assistance and administrator at USAID, designing strategies for U.S. foreign assistance reform and policies for allocating foreign assistance. Prior to this, Nazanin worked for ActionAid–Kenya, one of the largest rights-based NGOs in Kenya and a leading advocacy and local capacity-building institution. She holds an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a BA in political science from Bryn Mawr College. |
Nasrat Khalid founder, aseel app About nasrat khalid
Nasrat was raised an Afghan refugee in Pakistan until he was 16 years old when he returned to his hometown, Kabul, Afghanistan. He grew up working with international development organizations starting with AED (now FHI 360), then EDC, followed by Chemonics, and later, the World Bank in Afghanistan, South Asia, and later, in DC. In 2017, he left the World Bank and founded the Aseel platform, a US tech startup striving to create a massive impact by supporting global humanitarian and artisan efforts using technology. Nasrat is passionate about the inclusion of countries in the Global South and global talent in the digital economy. He has helped over half a million people through his platform with emergency support items in the Afghanistan crisis, and his platform, Aseel, has also helped sell over ten thousand handmade items from Afghanistan and Turkey in international markets. |
The Road to COP28: U.S. Government in Action
Climate change puts in stark relief the gross concentration of resources and capacity for climate resilience in advanced economies at the expense of lower income countries. Countries with fewer resources have smaller carbon footprints yet they face greater risks from climate change and have less capacity to adapt to change or to respond to climate-related shocks. Some point to the “opportunity” in emerging and lower income countries to more quickly achieve net zero carbon emission targets by bypassing fossil fuel products and services in favor of renewable, more sustainable development. It is said that the new, green economy represents the best path to serve the more than 4 billion people looking to rise into the consumer class. In the meantime, climate change is a clear and present danger; it challenges and sometimes overwhelms the capacity of governments and communities to manage and recover from the devastating impact of increasingly catastrophic climate events on people, ecosystems, economies and institutions.
Some of the questions we’ll address include: How can more resources be made available to governments and communities most impacted and threatened by climate change? How can we ensure that local governments and communities are leading on developing local solutions? What approaches should be taken to incorporate regional and cross-boundary challenges, decision-making and solutions into dealing with climate change? Are “green growth” and climate resilience complementary or competing goals when resources are limited? What are the next steps in advanced economies recognizing and funding climate-related “loss and damage” payments to developing countries? And what are the strategies and priorities of U.S. government agencies for supporting lower income countries and the most vulnerable people to develop capacity for climate change adaptation and resilience?
Some of the questions we’ll address include: How can more resources be made available to governments and communities most impacted and threatened by climate change? How can we ensure that local governments and communities are leading on developing local solutions? What approaches should be taken to incorporate regional and cross-boundary challenges, decision-making and solutions into dealing with climate change? Are “green growth” and climate resilience complementary or competing goals when resources are limited? What are the next steps in advanced economies recognizing and funding climate-related “loss and damage” payments to developing countries? And what are the strategies and priorities of U.S. government agencies for supporting lower income countries and the most vulnerable people to develop capacity for climate change adaptation and resilience?
Hope Herron Associate Director, Environmental and Social Performance group, MCC about Hope herron
Hope Herron is an Associate Director in the Environmental and Social Performance group at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), where she oversees the environmental and social performance of multi-million-dollar investments in support of MCC’s fight against global poverty. As a core member of MCC’s climate change team, she helped to develop the Agency’s new Climate Change Strategy and manages MCC’s five-year climate change contract to implement the Climate Change Strategy. She is co-leading MCC’s work on the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and represents the Agency on multiple National Security Council climate related meetings and workstream efforts. Ms. Herron is also a representative on the Agency’s Executive Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Council, where she chairs the Recruitment Working Group to expand employment opportunities for underserved communities. Prior to joining MCC, Hope led the resilient infrastructure practice for Tetra Tech, a global provider of consulting and engineering services. She provided strategic guidance to Tetra Tech’s corporate initiatives and project management and technical expertise to a wide range of international development agencies and multi-lateral clients. As the senior thought-leader for resilient infrastructure, Ms. Herron led many of the company’s innovative flagship climate change risk assessment and adaptation projects. That support included development of institutional approaches for the Inter-American Development Bank to comply with disaster and climate change commitments, development of the World Bank’s greenhouse gas accounting tool for their water portfolio, and conducting a nation-wide pilot project for incorporating climate change into the USEPA’s total maximum daily load program. Hope received a Master’s of Natural Resource Studies at the University of Queensland, Australia, where she served as an Ambassadorial Scholar, and a Master’s in International Communication from American University. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Communications, Loyola University, and of the United Nations Association. 
Jake Levine Chief Climate Officer, Development Finance Corporation (DFC) |